by Derek J. Cominskie
“Both boys again left the lunch tables multiple times to run around the lunchroom, laughing, causing the teacher to chase them. . . . When the teacher asked them to come line up . . . the boys laughed and ran in the other direction. Two teachers worked together to ‘catch’ the boys.”
My family did not attend church for the early years of my childhood. However, needing someone to watch their rambunctious (and mischievous) twin boys, my parents decided to put us in a local church preschool. Recently my mother ran into my old preschool teacher who was retiring after a lifetime of teaching. She asked if my mom wanted whatever files she had on my brother and me. My mom happily accepted, expecting a time-capsule of precious memories. Boy, was she surprised! The quotation above is one excerpt from a manila folder full of “office visit write-ups.” And let me tell you, this story is one of the few that is fit to share.
I share this story because I am very much a product of my church preschool experience. Some of my earliest memories are encapsulated within the walls and chain-link-fenced-playground of that church. It is amazing how many facets of my life were affected by my going to their preschool. I met a friend there who invited my family to a church where I heard the gospel, accepted Christ, and eventually answered the call to preach. That church led me to the high school I attended where I met my future wife. At high school I found out about Welch College where we attended and where I was eventually offered a job at the church in which I currently serve as pastor. If that preschool had not existed, my entire life would look different.
Yet, even if those later connections had not happened, if the providential dominoes of significance ended with the fact that I happened to go to that preschool, it would still have had a foundational impact on my life. I could still trace the beginnings of my belief that God exists and loves me and sent His Son to become incarnate, die, and rise for me to my time there. Seeds were planted in my mind. Christians cared for me and told me of their God who did also.
In 2022, we started a preschool in our church with seven initial students.[1] With the Lord’s provision, our program has grown to serving over sixty students, while remaining financially self-supporting and even contributing to church renovations. More importantly, we have seen the Lord use our program to bring the good news of Christ to many families in our community. When intentionally integrated into the church’s mission, a preschool can provide a sustained opportunity to serve families and proclaim Christ. Below, I will make a brief case for other pastors to consider starting a preschool within their churches.
Why? Jesus welcomed rowdy children into His presence.
One common response I get when talking to other pastors about starting a preschool is bewilderment at the perceived headache THAT swarms of children must bring. While there is wisdom in pausing and considering whether a preschool is right for your church, this knee-jerk response sometimes sounds an awful lot like that of the disciples when they shooed the children away from Christ (Mark 10:13–16; Luke 18:15–17). Jesus longs for the children and families in your area to come to a saving knowledge of Him. In a society increasingly detached from the Christian faith, preschool remains one of the few remaining “open doors” where unchurched parents actively seek out church programs, opening gospel opportunities.
Getting parents onto your campus multiple times a week breeds a familiarity that is hard to come by in the transience of modern society. Church doors are not as intimidating after parents have walked through them a few hundred times. This point is true for both unchurched and churched parents. Studies suggest that a significant portion of Christians who stop attending church do so because they move.[2] We have numerous parents each year tell us that they have recently moved to the area, have not found a church yet, and would like (or even ask permission!) to check out our church.
Do not get me wrong; we have taken our share of Tylenol because of our preschool. But I constantly return in my mind to four-year-old me. I needed the gospel. My parents needed the gospel. The headaches are worth it.
Who? You’d be surprised.
Many pastors also scratch their heads wondering who would work in their preschool. We have had a mixture of stay-at-home moms, grandmothers, and recent graduates from high school serve in our program. While we hire from both inside and outside our church, most of our workers now attend our church. Many of our workers first sent their kids to our preschool, then began attending our church, and eventually began working in our program.
Where? Look around.
Church buildings come in all shapes and sizes. Some have classrooms filled on Sundays, but those same classrooms sit idle and empty for the remainder of the week. With the growing inaccessibility of affordable childcare across the nation, these classrooms can both serve your community and facilitate the spread of the gospel.[3]
When? There are options.
Programs may operate on different schedules and for different lengths of time.[4] It is important to check the laws of your state to determine what type of program is feasible for your ministry.[5]
How? As a ministry of the church.
Given the number of possible setups, I will not attempt a how-to guide for starting a preschool, (though I would welcome anyone interested to reach out.) Rather, I will focus on how to operate a preschool as an integrated ministry of your church as opposed to a ministry that happens to operate on your campus.
Keep the gospel central. We offer an intentional, high-quality program, but if we are not careful, that goal can crowd out all the higher goal of proclaiming Christ. The two need not compete. When our director (my wife) prays at the beginning of each day, she consistently asks for gospel openings with the parents who come in our doors. We implement rigorous child protection practices like background checks, staff screening, and intensive training not simply for liability’s sake but also because Christ Himself gave grave warning regarding those who bring harm to children.
When we must correct staff, we frame the correction in the context of gospel witness. We are not concerned merely with public-relations issues when a staff member messes up because we are not solely trying to offer stellar educational childcare for our community. Tardiness or unreliability do not affect only academic instruction but also affect parents’ and students’ ability and desire to hear what we believe about Christ.
At each preschool performance, I give a brief and clear presentation of the gospel and a personal invitation to our church. There is nothing profound about this practice, but I have been surprised at how many functions I have gone to for other ministries with no mention of the gospel and no invitation to church. This fruit is low-hanging.
Include a preschool report from the director in every regular church business meeting. This practice allows the church body to celebrate the goings-on of the preschool as its own. It also provides a level of accountability beyond preschool board meetings and ensures the preschool continues operating within the mission of the church.
Pastor, kiss the director (if she’s your wife). In our first year of offering preschool, I nonchalantly gave my wife a kiss. Seeing this show of affection, one of our precocious two-year-olds exclaimed, “Boy, Pastor Derek and Mrs. Shelby sure are good friends!” I tell this story to highlight the benefit of having a pastoral presence within the preschool. Students and staff naturally notice when a pastor checks in regularly. If you treat the preschool and its workers as a parasitic parachurch ministry, expect it to operate as one. Get to know your workers and pastor them while they are working. They are not hired hands to help build your ministry; they are beloved fellow-laborers for the gospel.
Pastor, greet the families every day. Be genuinely interested in their lives and celebrate the development of their children with them. I make it a point to memorize every child’s name every year and as many parents’ names as I can. Here is a simple truth: if you are not willing to walk ten feet from your office to connect with the families and students that come onto your campus, do not expect them to go out of their way to connect with you or your church.
Make information about your church easy to find. Churches often overestimate how easy it is to get information on their services and events. Post information about your church where parents enter your building, and better yet, point their attention to it when you personally invite them (when you are greeting them). In addition, setting up a literature stand for parenting or marital resources is a wonderful way to give parents ready access to biblical material.[6]
Conclusion
As I write this article, we are in the final stages of renovations on a sixth classroom for our preschool. My wife gave four tours to prospective parents today. Some of the children who come through are delightful. Others are cut from the same cloth as my brother and me. Jesus died for them all. Would you pray with me for the families we will have on our campus this year, and would you pray about offering something similar to the families in your community?
About the Author: Derek J. Cominskie is the lead pastor of Tippett’s Chapel Free Will Baptist Church in Clayton, North Carolina, where he lives with his wife, Shelby, and their two children, Palmer and Paisley. A native of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Derek is a graduate of Welch College and holds an M.Div. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received the Nannie Bruce Nelson Award for the Study of the New Testament. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology at Southeastern, with a particular interest in the theological method of James Arminius. Derek has served in Free Will Baptist denominational leadership, including as chair of the North Carolina Youth Ministries Board and, currently, as chair of the Board of Ministerial Standing for the Randall Association of Free Will Baptists. He also serves on the Town of Clayton’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. The Cominskie family enjoys participating in town events, attending sporting activities, and kayaking on the Neuse River.
[1] We began discussing a preschool after I participated in a 2018 research project on “pockets of lostness” with the Strategic Focus Team of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. For more information, see https://ncbaptist.org/article/how-you-can-impact-lostness-2/, accessed August 26, 2026. The research identified that increasing numbers of young families were moving to our area and that a pocket of lostness was right in our backyard. Understandably, COVID-19 delayed our plan. In 2021, our church requested a “Know Your Community Report,” from the Executive Office of the National Association of Free Will Baptists, which indicated an even greater influx of young families (https://nafwb.org/site/know/).
[2] Jim Davis and Michael Graham, with Ryan Burge, The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring them Back? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2023), 49.
[3] A helpful nonpartisan resource to explore the childcare needs in your community can be found at childcaregap.org. Some readers may question whether church-sponsored childcare reinforces cultural patterns that weaken family life. Such concerns deserve consideration, but the fact remains that many families could not work to pay their bills without childcare. Churches should seek models that strengthen, rather than displace, parental responsibility and should consider whether childcare, financial assistance, food distribution or other ministries—such as hosting homeschool co-ops or mothers’ gatherings—best fit their context. If this footnote prompts a church to begin such ministries, I encourage it, provided they too operate in a way consistent with what I have described in this article.
[4] Some preschools offer care five days a week, while others choose select days (e.g., Monday-Thursday or Monday/Wednesday/Friday). Many programs run year-round, while others take breaks in the summer. Hours also differ between full-day and half-day care.
[5] For instance, in North Carolina, the regulatory threshold for licensed childcare hinges on group size and hours of care offered. North Carolina General Statute § 110-86(2) defines “child care” as a “program or arrangement where three or more children less than 13 years old, who do not reside where the care is provided, receive care on a regular basis of at least once per week for more than four hours but less than 24 hours per day from persons other than their guardians or full-time custodians, or from persons not related to them by birth, marriage, or adoption” ( https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_110/gs_110-86.html, accessed August 26, 2026). A church preschool operating four hours or less per day is not required to be licensed as a childcare facility, though they must still comply with building codes and fire regulations. Licensed programs must follow additional childcare parameters set by the state and are required to have annual inspections. Each setup has pros and cons.
[6] For an example of biblical resources for families, see D6 HomePoint, https://d6family.com/homepoint/.
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